Snap-seal



No. 623,94I.

E. J. BROOKS.

SNAP SEAL.

(Application filed 1m. 9, 1899.)

Patented Apr. 25,1899.

, (No Model.)

5 i a I UNITED STATES PATENT EETcE.

EDWARD J. BROOKS, OF EAST ORANGE, NElV JERSEY.

SNAP-SEAL...

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 623,941, dated April 25, 1899.

Application filed March 9,1899. smart. 708,411. (No model.)

To all whom, it nuty concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. BROOKS, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of East Orange, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Snap-Seals, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is additional to the improvement in snap-seals set forth in my previous specification forming part of United States Letters Patent No. 619,704,dated February 14, 1899, relating therewith to improvements in those seals known as self-fastening seals or snap-seals for use like press-fastened seals for securing the doors of railway freightcars or for other purposes for which such seals are or may be employed.

The present invention consists in an improved snap-seal of peculiar construction having a shackle of flexible wire and in certain novel combinations of parts in such seals, as hereinafter set forth and claimed. Its objects are, first, to produce less expensive seals operating on the'same principle as those set forth in the previous specification above referred to; secondly, to provide for securely uniting the parts at the factory without the aid of sheet-metal shackle ends, and, thirdly, to guard the catch-fingers against any tampering therewith by the outer members of the seal parts themselves.

Asheet of drawings accompanies this specification as a part thereof.

Figure 1 of the drawings is an elevation of a wire shackle for an improved snap-seal embodying the several features of the present invention. Figs. 2 to 5, inclusive, are face views with appended cross-sections of the members of its seal parts as they appear before being united. Fig. 6 is a face view of the improved seal as it leaves the factory. Fig. 7 is an edge view of the same fastened with the seal parts in section. Fig. 8 is a face view with appended cross-section of a modified seal-part member. Fig. 9 is asectional edge view of a fastened seal embodying said modified member. Figs. 10 and 11 are sectional edge views of additional modified seals as they leave the factory. Figs. 12, 13, and 14 are face views of modified shackle-wires. Fig. 15 is a face view of one end of a modified seal in process of manufacture, and Fig. 16 is a cross-section through Fig. 15.

Like letters and numbers refer to like parts in all the figures.

In each of the improved seals the flexible shackle A is wholly of suitable wire, which has the advantage in such seals of bending readily in every direction and of practically unlimited length, and sheet-metal seal parts B and O are securely attached to the respective ends of the shackle at the factory, the members of each seal part being permanently united with each other at the same preliminary operation. For this pn rpose each shackle A is constructed with shackle ends 1 and 2, havingattaching-bends flat in a plane parallel to the face of the seal. Each seal part B includes a disk member I), Fig. 2, adapted for self-attachment to the shackle end 1 and having an attaching-rim 3, originally in the form of a crown-flange and provided with a hole or notch 4 to receive the shackle-wire, and each seal part 0 includes a like disk member 0, adapted for self-attachment to the shackle end 2 and having an attaching-rim 3, provided with a hole or notch at, through which the shackle-wire extends.

Each of the improved seals further includes an annular snap member b having an attaching-rim 5 interlocked with said rim 3 in preliminarily uniting the parts and inwardlyprojectiug springfingers 6, and each seal part 0 includes a rigid catch-collar 7 to interlock with said spring-fingers 6 in the manner set forth in said previous specification forming part of Patent No. 619,704.

In'the specific seal represented by Figs. 1 to 7, inclusive, the shackle ends 1 and 2 of the shackle A are in the form of wiring-rings fitted, respectively, to theinteriors of said attaching-rims 3 and 3. The rim 5 of the snap member is adapted to partly embrace the wire of the ring 1, and the catch-collar 7 has a rim 5 similar to the rim 501": said snap member 17 to partly embrace the wire of the ring 2 and constitutes therewith a distinct member c of the seal part 0. After inserting the wiring-ring l of the shackle Awithin the rim 3 of the disk member I) of the seal part B the snap member 11 is insertedand the rim 3 turned down tightly upon the rim 5 and ring 1 to permanently unite said members I) and b with each other and to fixedly attach the seal part B to the shackle A at a single operation. The wiring-ring 2 isinserted in like manner within the rim 3' of the disk member of the seal part C, followed by the catch member 0 and the rim 3 of said disk member c is turned down upon said rim 5 of the catch member, so as to interlock these parts with each other and attach the seal part 0 to the shackle. The seal is completed to this extent at the factory, as represented by Fig. 6. It is applied as a seal in any customary manner and the seal parts B and O are brought togetherto automatically fasten the seal, as in Fig. '7.

In the fastened seal the open centers of the annular snap member Z1 and the annular cat-eh member 0 are effectively guarded by the outer disk members I) and c themselves, as shown in Fig. 7, to prevent any tampering with the catch-fingers.

In the modified seal represented by Figs. 8 and 9 the catch-collar 7 is integral with the disk member c of the seal part C, so as to simplify to this extent this seal part. The shackle A and seal part B may be identical with-those above described, and in assembling the parts at the factory it is only necessary to turn down the attaching-rim 3 upon the wiringring 2, so as to tightly attach the seal part 0. The seal is applied and fastened in precisely the same manner as the form previously described.

In the modification illustrated by Fig. 10 the shackle-wireAand seal part B are or may be substantially like those above described with reference to Figs. 1 to 7, inclusive. The only changes represented with reference to these parts are the construction of the snap member b with a flat rim 5 and the adaptation of the rim 3 of the disk member Z) to interlock the members of the seal part with each other and with the shackle A without conforming the metal of the seal part to the wire. Less ductile sheet metal may thus be substituted for more expensive stock. The seal part 0 of the modified seal corresponds with the form above described with reference to Figs. 8 and 9, with the addition of an annular washer cint'erposed between the rim 3 and the shackle end, so that the seal part may be of larger diameter without increasing the diameter of the ring 2 or its equivalent.

In the modification represented by Fig. 11 the shackle A and seal part 0 of theimproved seal are or may be substantially identical with those described with reference to Figs. 1 to 7, inclusive, and the seal part B is provided with an edge shield I), (such as is shown at 5 in said Patent No. (519,701,) the same being conveniently attached externally to the snap member I) by means of the rim 3 of the disk member Z). The shackle A may be further cheapened by adapting the attachingbends of its ends 1 and 2 to be made in the form of open bends, such as may be produced at a single stroke by a reciprocating die. In the forms represented in Figs. 12 and 13 the bends are adapted to partly embrace the catch-collar 7, for example. Either of the shackles represented by Figs. 12 and 13 may be substituted for the shackle A, Fig. 1, in the flat disk seal represented by Fig. 10, notwithstanding the construction of its seal part C, but not the form represented by Fig. 14. The latter or either of the other modified shackles may be substituted for said shackle A, Fig. 1, in the seal represented by Fig. 11.

In connection with any of the shackles represented by Figs. 12, 13, and 14 the disk member I) or c of the seal part should have within its disk portion a hollow depression 8, Fig. 1G, to receive the attaching-bends of the shackle end 1 or 2, and the seal part should include an overlying washer c, Fig. 10, or 0, Figs. 15 and 16, to hold the shackle end in place within said depression, and thus prevent working the wire loose.

Any one of the shackles A may have the attaching-bends of its respective ends 1 and 2 of different forms. The seal parts 13 and C or either of them may be provided with distinguishing-marks in any known or improved manner. The number and shape of the snapfingers 6 may vary, and other like modifications will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

Having thus described said improvement, I claim as my invention and desire to patentunder this specification- 1. An improved snap-seal composed of a shackle of flexible wire, having attachingbends at its ends, and a pair of sheet-metal seal parts inclosing the respective shackle ends and having attaching-rims by which the shackle and seal parts are preliminarily united with each other, said seal parts including respectively an annular snap member having inwardly-projecting spring-fingers and a catch-collar to interlock with said fingers when the seal is self-fastened.

2. In a snap-seal, the combination with a shackle of flexible wire, having attachingbends at its ends, of a sheet-metal seal part inclosing and fixedly attached to one shackle end, and composed of a disk member having an attaching-rim and an annular snap member having an attaching-rim and inwardlyprojecting spring-fingers, and a seal part fixedly attached to and inclosing the other shackle end and provided with a catch-collar to interlock with said fingers for self-fastening the seal.

3. In combination witha shackle of flexible wire, having attaching-bends at its ends, and a seal part fixedly attached to and inclosing one shackle end and including an annular snap member, a sheet-metal seal part fixedly attached to and inclosing the other shackle end and comprising an annular catch member having a catch-collar to interlock with said snap memberand an attaching-rim, and a disk member having an attaching-rim to co- IIC act with that of said catch member and with the shackle end in preliminarily uniting the parts.

4. The combination, in a snap-seal, of a shackle 0f flexible Wire having attachingbends at its ends and a pair of sheet-metal seal parts inclosingtzmd fixedly attached to the respective shackle ends, said seal parts having respectively an annular snap member and an annular catch member adapted to interlock with each other when the seal is selffastened, and each seal part having an outer disk member by which its parts are preliminarily united With each other and with the shackle end and the open centers of said an-' nular snap member and catch member are guarded, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

EDWARD J. BROOKS.

Witnesses:

THOMAS TIERNEY, J. C. BURNETT. 

